Thursday, June 23, 2016

Democratic Sit In, Day 2

Just before noontime yesterday, the Democratic Party did something extraordinary, something I've only seen activists do: They staged a sit in on the floor,specifically in the well, of the US House of Representatives. This was led by 15 term Congressman John Lewis, longtime civil rights activist who'd staged sit ins in the 60's, and Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark.
It was about gun control legislation the GOP has been notoriously loath to pass since they're merely glorified temp workers of the NRA. It was intended to force a vote on background checks and all the facets of gun control legislation that the government can't or won't move meaningfully on. Eventually, they were joined by Elizabeth Warren and her Dunkin Donuts and eventually Bernie Sanders himself joined the slumber party.
Granted, many of the sitting Democrats are pro-Hillary super delegates but since last night even the presidential election took a back seat to this perhaps doomed effort to force a gun control in the wake of the horrific Pulse shooting in Orlando.
Speaker Paul Ryan didn't take too well to the Democrats' sit in and the nation's most overpaid pot washer went on CNN last night to whine about what the Democrats were doing was a "publicity stunt." In the end, Ryan rammed through a bunch of unrelated bills and finally adjourned the session after 3 AM.
So I figured, if the Democrats can bring national attention to this neglected issue with their historic sit in, I should show solidarity by supporting them and live tweeting them while sitting on my own pasty ass. Eventually, the sit in took a dark, sinister turn when Ryan instructed the Master at Arms to turn off the C-SPAN cameras.

By ordering the cameras turned off, Paul Ryan & the GOP are showing their utter contempt for transparency. #NoBillNoBreak

I was up until well after midnight last night and I'll be there keeping an eye on things like millions of others as the sit in stretches into its second day. This is what being a political junkie entails and I'm starting to love politics again in a way that I haven't in years.